Yes, this is a film, but that is not its
essence. This is a daring, substantive,
scientific summoning to revolution. 6+ hours
that can change how you see the world and what you
do with the rest of your life. Is this
hype? No.

—From one of the filmmakers

Those this system has cast off, those it has treated as less than human, can be the backbone and driving force of a fight not only to end their own oppression, but to finally end all oppression, and emancipate all of humanity.

—Bob Avakian, from the film

My dear brother Bob Avakian... is the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party.... He is one of the few coming out of the 60's who never sold out, he never caved in, he never gave up, held on to his forging of a rigorous, scientific analysis of the objective realities that are driven by a revolutionary love – because he has such a deep love for poor people, oppressed people, all around the world. Whether you agree or disagree with our brother, one thing you cannot deny: that he is the real thing. No doubt about it."

–Cornel West, introducing his interview with Bob Avakian on the
Smiley & West radio show
(October 5, 2012)

I have just seen the first two
hours, of six, of BA Speaks:
REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! It was like
plunging into a very blue, very icy pool. I got
out shivering, sad, angry, and very worried.
About my life and all of our lives.

"Bob is like a Black leader but
he is bigger than that" he is an emancipator for
everybody.

When I say "Bob's like a Black
Leader" it's because most of our leaders stood
up against what's wrong and tried to make a
change in our community—and that's what he
do—but not just for our community, for the whole
world.

A young Latina woman and her
friend were standing around and we went up to
them. Gave them a palm card (of the film) and
described what it was about, and I asked her,
"So, what do you think about revolution?" And
she said, "I don't know, I don't really care, I
just go with the flow." I said, "Well you
shouldn't just go with the flow, you should care
cuz there is so much fucked up stuff going on."
She said "Well, like what?"

I've been a witness of a BA's
talk that only could be described as spectacular
and much needed today. In it there are many
valuable things for discussion and it poses
impressive objectives that deserve the effort to
get this project of the BA's movie off the
ground. All this effort yearns for giving voice
and inspires the possibility of a radically
different world from the exasperating nightmare
in which many live today....

The down-pressed peoples of the
World needs and are crying out for
Revolution—Nothing less! Comrade Bob Avakian
painstakingly outlines in a simple, clear and
forward way, the tactics and strategy of how
revolution can be made and maintained within the
borders of the United Snakes of America. He
speaks with much courage and determination about
the serious need for revolution and the crucial
importance for it to be fuelled by revolutionary
theory and the revolutionary science of Marxism
Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, so as to bring
about a more humane understanding of society....

As a person who has seen the
rough cut of this film, I think it's very
important for everyone, especially young people
from the hood to see this because BA talks about
what they go through and he has a solution to
all the oppression.

Things do not have to be the way
they are! You should go listen to what Bob
Avakian has to tell you. I gravitated to this
message from reading BAsics. BA
speaks with great passion about the horrors of
the world, but he says IT DOES NOT HAVE TO LIKE
THIS. You can't say it any plainer. The young
people in particular should see BA Speaks:
REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!

At the fall presentation that I
attended, Bob Avakian was speaking to me.

My testimony is reflective of my
experience of finally meeting someone who was
able to see me as a visible, viable force of
fury who has since become an inextricable part
of the movement for revolution.

My conversation with Bob Avakian
and my reading of his strategic plans for
revolution have been challenging to say the
least. To begin the conversation with focused
attention on the poor and the marginalized fits
my religious and biblical sensibilities. To
give voice to the voiceless; to empower the
powerless… these things speak to my heart as an
ordained pastor and theologian. We may
diverge on the various strategies employed to
achieve a more just society. We may be
identified by our disconnect when it comes to
religion in general and Christianity in
particular. But, there is great benefit in
engaging in the dialogue, listening to Avakian's
critique and proposal for change, and discerning
your place in the ordering of society as we move
into the twenty-first century. Go, listen
and learn. Engage in the dialogue and
critical synthesis yet unfolding. The
uncritical support of any public figure or
philosophy is folly. And the test of
effective strategy shall not come without
intense interaction and dialogue.

Rev. Robert B. Coleman
Chief Program Minister and
Minister of Social Justice
The Riverside Church in the City of New York

After
seeing the film BA Speaks:
REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS, I am much more
in the know that there will be no change under
this system of oppression, no real future for
the youth, and all the horrors of this nation
and the world will go on until we all stop
kidding ourselves by the notion that our
government is such the superpower that they
can't be defeated or that we are so powerless to
just let all these outrages go on. BA was very
much on point about the injustices of our youth,
particularly black and brown youth that ends up
entangled in our criminal (in)justice system,
and how much we need to stop with blaming the
youth for their plight and for why they are
criminalized under this exploitive system.

I'm buying a ticket for a young
person who might need help getting to BA
Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS. I
want this ticket to go to a young person who is
not a carbon copy of what this society wants the
youth to be. Someone who wants a different
future for this world. BA is one person who has
the vision and the program for another world. Go
hear BA and don't be a carbon copy. Be a new
generation that is standing up against what
keeps us enslaved.

As an Iranian communist who was
involved in the 1979 revolution in Iran, I felt
deep into my flesh and bones when I heard BA
speak about "Revolution – Nothing Less!" The
understanding he brings out in this talk, the
lessons he shares, are lessons paid for in blood
by thousands of revolutionaries and communists
in Iran and around the world. Based on our
experience in Iran, and what has happened to
communist/Maoist forces in Peru as well as
Nepal, people (communists and non-communists)
who are seriously thinking about radical changes
in the US should come to see the film of this
talk. What BA says is based on objective reality
and a summation of experience, including
shortcomings, of communists all over the world.
As comrade BA said, "Revolution is nothing to
play with!" People who are serious should
approach the revolution as scientists who want
to change society based on a scientific
approach. Sometimes revolutionaries and
communists have not been prepared for a
revolutionary situation. If you want to be
prepared for a time when it might be possible to
make a revolution, you should come listen to BA…

—An Iranian communist living in
the US and fighting for the New Synthesis of BA

My personal invite to you is
based on what's possible, and necessary, and
what's true.

Often, people ask me why I
haven't quit trying, in discouragement, to
change the world, or even to just stop the
crimes of the US government through a mass
movement of people, as supporters of World Can't
Wait are working on. The challenges are
obvious, and I am aware of how rare – much too
rare — it is to refuse to give in.

White
guy in his twenties who saw BA speak this past
fall:
"I'll be at the Magic Johnson Theater on March
16th because in this day and age its rare to
hear a man speak the truth and I'm not going to
miss an opportunity to do so."
***A Black man in his early thirties who said
he's been stopped and frisked by police 30
times in a year
"I just bought a ticket to see BA speak, I'm
really interested in what he has to say, ya
know, there's a need for revolution, it won't
hurt for me to buy a ticket and see this man's
perspective and see where he's coming from. Look
like he's really into mind the community where I
come from, and he really cares for the masses of
humans around the world. Thank you."
***A college student, young Black woman, who
bought her ticket:
"I encourage you to see the screening of Bob
Avakian's REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS
because I am inspired to hear about someone who
thinks that they know how we can have a
revolution, change capitalism, change the
societal constructs in which we live today. I'm
very curious to understand why he believes there
are steps to reforming and changing society, and
I think it's just a very inspirational and a
motivational tool to help encourage people to
ban together, fight against societal norms and
constructs and make a change and make a
difference, starting with this generation, so
that's my little piece, I hope you go, come out
and see it!"

The
film was wonderful and every segment was
important. The length was necessary
because Bob Avakian doesn't always get the
opportunity to speak to the people in the
audience. We have to do outreach to those
unfamiliar with what Bob Avakian was talking
about since there's the fascist control of the
media, which makes many people
brainwashed.

When I
first was introduced to BA's teachings, I was
very shocked that this white boy was very real
and knew a lot about Black life. Listening to
BA, I felt that he knew just what I was going
through and up against day after day.

Before I saw the film I had
learned about the lynchings during Jim Crow and
before that, and I used to think, these people
were fucked up. They took slaves, they killed
Black people, they were fucked up. It was always
about the individual. Like, some people didn't
do that, and some people did. It was never
about, like, all the things that made that OK.
That's what society was comfortable with. So I
was always angry, I thought, how could you think
that was ok? How could you see that and not say
anything? ...

I'm an
ordained minister but my life style consisted of
me being a drug addict—one of the worst
kind. There wasn't anything I wouldn't do
to feed my addiction. Now that my life has
been changed there isn't anything I wouldn't do
to keep straight. BA is a part of my life
and that is one of the things that keeps me
strong—keeps me on the right path of
righteousness. I believe in God
first. God is my Father and I surrender my
life over to him. BA is second and I
surrender my life over to BA to get our world
back into the righteous place where it needs to
be.

Writer/Teacher/Native
community chairman/Father/Grandfather and
Activist in the honor of our homelands and the
next seven plus generations

March
15, 2013

I am aware that we are at the
crossroads where we are unable to
recover any of the thousands of species
destroyed by industrialization within just the
last five years (about two hundred a day, so I
hear). Having said that, we are already outside
the realm of quick fixes for recovering the
earth, air and water.

Having gone and listened to a
live, public Bob Avakian speech, as I have, is
to be exposed to one of the most provocative,
serious and controversial social thinkers of our
time. He's an American original who should be
heard, debated and critiqued for these dramatic
and troubling times.

This statement is from a
woman whose son was killed by the police and
who heard BA speak:

Black people need to see/hear
this tape because we blinded. I was blinded at
first—I'm not blinded no more. They get out and
hear this about why we are oppressed the way we
are. Maybe somebody will stand up and say "we
stand for revolution."...

If you've ever wondered whether a
revolution could happen in the USA, then you
need to be there. If you burn with impatience or
long for something dramatically different than
what authorities say is "just the way things
have to be," then you need to be there.

After
seeing and hearing BA's talk I laid awake and
thought long and hard about my life and what it
was going to be about from here on out. After
all I have been an activist and organizer trying
to mobilize people to resist and oppose the
crimes of the U.S. and while resistance is
critical it will go nowhere unless people think
about what's next...what would really bring to
an end to murderous wars for empire, the
oppression of woman and minorities, and the
destruction of the environment?

BA is a great revolutionary
leader in today's world who has a clear
understanding about what are the underlying
problems of our world. He has been fighting for
the goal of creating a world where there is no
oppression and exploitation all his life. People
who are interested in building a better future
for humanity will benefit from listening to what
he has to say.

Five
hundred years from now, about the same amount of
time that has elapsed since Columbus invaded
what his class of exploiters call the "New
World" and began a genocide of its native
peoples, future humans, if there are still any,
will look back on this time—our time—as one of
the most critical in human history. Our planet
is now literally teetering on the brink of
environmental catastrophe, yet our so-called
"leaders," of this capitalist-imperialist system
we all live under, do nothing.

From
a young man in high school in the SF Bay Area
who has watched the rough-cut of BA Speaks:
REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!

March
10, 2013

What stood out to you?

"When BA gets into pornography,
the whole thing about porn how it really
degrades women. When you get into that
industry—if there's no job and you're in a
desperate situation you end up getting into that
because you're desperate to make ends meet.
Also, this country makes clear—BA talks about
the culture of patriarchy promoted for so long
it's hard to know how far it goes back. When I
was introduced to BA, I understood that
patriarchy going on, but he gave more clear
light in simple manner how it's going on in this
country and how we need to bring an end to it.
He makes it visual—if someone didn't know
anything about what patriarchy is, he makes a
very clear understanding in five minutes and you
get an understanding.

If you're anything like me, the
idea of watching a six hour film seems nearly
impossible. I rarely get six hours of sleep a
night, six hours with a friend or family member,
six hours to do whatever…pretty much the only
thing that allows me to spend 6, 8, 12, 16 hours
is my work…my job and I guess I'm lucky to have
one.

If you're anything like me, you
probably ask yourself, "Is this really as good
as it gets? Is this really the best of all
possible worlds?" If you're anything like me,
you've caught yourself compromising your hopes
and dreams of a better world and a different
future. Maybe you've caught yourself
compromising your imagination to conform to what
we're told is "possible" and if you're anything
like me…maybe you've even started to believe
that nothing will ever change. This is the best
we can do, so I should quit whining, get back to
work and be thankful.

This system cuts short the life
of millions of children as they slave away in
third-world factories, this system consistently
allows police to murder anyone they choose, this
system regards women as objects, this system
literally starves people to death, this system
perpetrates human suffering in all its forms.
This is what we were born in to. We never
decided that this is the way the world should
work, but we do have an obligation to do
something about it....

I want
to say this to the youth in the neighborhood.
This system has no future for you. You have to
seriously check out Bob Avakian.

From
an early age this system had me programed for
prison and I wound up doing many, many years. I
know about the solitary confinement, the beat
downs—the struggle to keep your humanity. I was
a kid when I went in and an old man when I came
out.

You have got to watch this
incredibly credible movie. It is an absolute
"Tour de force" by Bob Avakian that can and will
move you right up to the front with thousands
and then millions of others in the drive for
revolution.